CSC Volume 2 Ch. 13

*****

Kyouko

*****

Today was just not my day. 

It has been a few days since the fire near the Shirogami Shrine. Unable to get the talk between Yuna and her clubmates after that, I decided to go to her school to check in on her. I never thought far ahead about what I was going to do, so when I reached the front gates, I stopped to mull over some ideas. 

What should I do? I wondered. Should I just go over and talk to her?

No, that was a bad idea. After what I did, there was no way that she'd just nod and say yes to having a cup of tea with me like a pair of fancy princesses. But it wasn't like I could just leave her alone either, not after I, well, nearly killed her.

Troubled, I ended up wandering onto the school grounds. I was halfway through the courtyard before I realized what I had been doing. But I didn't think it really mattered. It wasn't like anyone could see me while my Perception Manipulation was working.

But as soon as I thought that, this big, scary-looking guy suddenly walked up to me, shooting all sorts of ridiculous accusations out of his mouth at me, like how suspicious I was acting, that I might be an enemy spy from somewhere, or that I was even that arsonist that was on the news lately. I was careless to assume that Yuna's cousin, Oota, was the only one who could see through my Perception Manipulation. I didn't think there was anyone else who'd use their psychic powers like he did all the time.

I was prepared to take the big guy down with a dropkick when then the next thing I knew, Oota showed up. After that, I thought things couldn't get more chaotic. But then some guy I vaguely remembered being at the shrine a few days ago showed up too, spouting the same accusations at the boys only to go rabid-crazy and started a psychic battle in broad daylight.

And finally, while the two strange boys engaged in a psychic firefight, a stray bullet flew my way. I saw it coming, but it came at me so fast that when I tried to move out of the way, it was already right in front of my face. But then someone pushed me to the ground and there was a huge explosion.

"Ow!" I was wearing short sleeves so my right elbow scraped against the ground. It was just hot at first, but eventually started sting. Although I didn't get a look, I was sure it bled.

"Oi, Oota!" I heard the scary guy scream. He was staring past me with a pale face. I followed his gaze to see Yuna's cousin draped over the school wall like a bedsheet hanging out to dry. My heart leaped to my throat when I realized that could have been me. That attack the rabid boy threw was a so powerful, it was downright deadly. Oota, for some reason, saved my life.

Shocked, I dropped to my knees.

But then Oota lifted his head and waved, weakly calling out in a shaky voice, "I'm okay!"

He slowly pulled himself over until he dropped back down to the ground, landing on his bottom with an "Oof!" After a painstaking few seconds, he wobbled back to his feet, dazed but unscathed. Totally unscathed.

I was relieved, but at the same time a bit dumbfounded that he didn't get even a bit hurt by that powerful blast of electromagnetic energy, or that fall from a ten-foot tall wall.

Meanwhile, the other two boys were duking it out, one clad in an armor of electromagnetic energy while the other in psychokinetic energy. They were engaged in a vicious brawl that sent shockwaves (quite literally) throughout the field with each hit to each other. But although each one of their attacks were powerful enough to make a normal person pop like a balloon, those same powers of theirs kept them both completely unharmed.

"Grandma was right," I muttered to myself. "This town's full of monsters."

And then another one showed up. This one was a girl who came running out of a nearby building with globes of water covering her hands.

"Eiji, stop!" she shouted. "Stop it!"

But the boy, whichever one, I don't know, would not listen and the brawl continued.

The girl with water powers stopped a couple of feet away and watched. She had a bad look on her face, a mixture of frustration and fear. I could tell by the way she grimaced that she was trying hard not to panic, to keep her head level and she waited for an opportunity to strike. That opportunity came when the scary guy kicked the crazy one away. The girl launched the two water balls around her hands and sent them flying at the crazy electric guy.

The first ball struck him in the gut and the second hit his chin and sent him flying like an uppercut punch. As he went down, the girl ran over to the other guy and jumped in his way before he could attack the fallen electric one.

"Get out of my way!" the scary guy shouted. 

"Calm down! Yamimura, calm down! Quit it!" the girl shouted back.

While she tried to get the scary guy to calm down, the electric guy she felled got back on his feet and threw a ball of electric energy at her while she was distracted.

Oota screamed, "Kawatori, behind you!"

The girl, Kawatori half-turned around when the scary boy, Yamimura, pushed her aside. He was struck in the shoulder and spun in the air before crashing down.

"Yamimura!" Kawatori shrieked, looking completely horrified.

"No! Wait! Get back!" I shouted.

Kawatori ran to Yamimura's side. I thought that was a bad idea and tried to warn her, but she didn't seem to hear me. That was when the electric guy leaped to attack. He charged forward with a fist raised behind his head.

Kawatori saw him coming, but instead of moving out of the way, she stood her ground determined to protect Yamimura as a wall between him and the electric guy. Oota raised his hand, moving, I believed, to try and stop the electric guy with his psychic power. But he was much too slow.

There was no stopping that nutcase from creating a splatter horror film in real life. That was what I thought as he arrived inches away from Kawatori. And then -

He froze for a few seconds and then flew backwards, slamming hard against the ground.

That was when another girl made her appearance. She had also been at the shrine when that fire happened. Although she had appeared flustered around the time of the fire, right now she just looked really, really angry.

Staring coldly at the boy with her hand reaching out to him, she asked, "Just what do you think you're doing, Shikouyama?"

As if a spell had been broken, the fallen electric boy gasped and looked up at the angry girl with a look of horror while sweating buckets.

"I . . . But Yamimura!"

"Shut up!" the girl shouted. 

Shikouyama flinched and obeyed with his eyes cast down to his knees. He looked like a little kid being scolded by his mom.

Satisfied with his obedience, the girl turned around to face us and said,  "Yamimura, Oota, Hana," she said. "Go! Before the teachers finally show up."

"Come on," Oota said to me. He was all for leaving, but the scary guy, Yamimura, didn't move a muscle.

"What's your angle?" he asked, looking at her with cold eyes.

The girl responded with a cool gaze of her own and replied, "I just want to avoid my own people getting in trouble. And that will be harder to do with all of you here. Don't worry. I had some psychics close off the area with their powers. No one else should have noticed the spat between you guys and this idiot."

By "idiot", she was talking about the electric guy, Shikouyama.

"You're welcome to stick around," the girl continued. "But don't blame me if we all end up being expelled, or worse."

That was enough to finally convince Yamimura to leave. But now Oota was sticking around.

Puzzled, the girl who brought down Shikouyama asked, "What's wrong, Oota? I didn't think you'd want to stay."

Oota rolled his eyes and glanced at me. He was clearly waiting for me.

With a sigh, I said, "Alright! I'm coming!"

There was something I wanted to talk to him about anyway. But rather than let him lead, I took charge and said, "Follow me," before heading to a secluded area behind a building. Oota followed me without a word.

There was no one around, the windows of the building had curtains over them, and the other side was a wall too high to climb alone. It was the perfect place to have a private conversation. 

As soon as I was sure of that, I stopped walking, turned around and said to Oota, "Hey. I got questions and I want you to answer them honestly."

"I'm sorry, but I think it's better if we start out as friends," he said.

I blinked and went, "Hah?" I wasn't sure what he was talking about.

"You were going to ask me out on a date, right?" he said. "That's what you were going to ask me, right?"

"NO!" I shouted. "That is most certainly NOT what I was going to ask!"

"Oh," Oota said. "I thought since you had a question and you brought me over here that . . . I mean, when a girl brings a boy to places like behind a school building, it's usually to ask the boy out on a date."

"Please shut up," I begged him. "Seriously, please."

Oh my god, he's such a big headache, I thought as I rubbed my temples. Not only that, even thought it was a misguided assumption that I was going to ask him out, HE rejected ME! I was never interested in him like that, at all, but it was utterly humiliating.

Because he really threw me for a loop, it took me a while to get back on track and get down to business.

After taking in a deep breath, I said, "Back at the shrine a few days ago, I overheard you guys arguing a bit. If happened after the fire was taken care of."

"You were there?" Oota asked.

I nodded and said, "Yeah. One of your friends mentioned something about Yuna's parents, something about them being dead. I know that her dad passed away a long time ago, but what about her mom? She didn't really die, did she?"

Oota hesitated, but then reluctantly answered in a soft whisper, "Yeah, she did."

My blood ran cold.

I tried to remain calm, but my voice started shaking when I asked, "When? How?"

But Oota replied, "Sorry, but I'm not answering that. Since you already overheard Isaneko say that Yuna's mom died, there was no point in hiding that from you. But what happened to Yuna's mom is Yuna's business. If you really want to find out, you should go talk to her. But it's up to her if she will tell you or not."

I did not like his answer and scowled.

"Do you even know what happened?" I asked.

"Not in detail," Oota admitted. He leaned his back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "I try not to stick my nose in other people's business since that'd be rude, but I did overhear enough snippets from some grownups to get the general picture. Any other questions?"

I looked him up and down, thinking that I still wanted to ask him about Yuna's silence and about her panic attack back at the Shirogami Shrine's storage building. But I was sure that Oota was not going to say anything more about Yuna. The guy seemed obstinate about respecting her privacy. It didn't matter anyway, since I'm sure I heard all I needed to from Isaneko on that day at the shrine. 

"I just have one final question," I said. "Why did you help me back there? After everything I did to Yuna, I wouldn't have expected you, of all people, to come to my rescue."

Oota scratched the back of his head.

"I was just paying you back for helping out Yuna back then," he said.

Confused, I asked, "What do you mean? When did I help out Yuna?"

"Huh?" Oota looked at me puzzled. "Didn't you try to get Yuna out of that storage building while the fire raged? It didn't work out, but you did try to rescue Yuna from the fire. That's what Yuna told us."

I was stunned.

"She told you that? Why?"

Oota gave me a curious look and then responded, "Because it's the truth? Mirai verified it with his 'demonic third eye'." He held his hands up and did air quotes. "And I remember seeing you there too. Why? Were we wrong?"

Rather than answer him, I said, "Never mind." I also withheld that I was the one who trapped her in the building in the first place.

"While we're at it, do you mind if I ask you a question of my own?" Oota asked.

I didn't really see why not, so I nodded.

"Why did you pull all those mean pranks in the first place? Did Yuna do something to make you mad?"

I clamped down for a few seconds before answering.

"Yeah," I said. "She did. Or at least, that's what I thought. But now I'm starting to wonder if maybe I had it wrong this whole time."

We were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a gong. Oota pulled out his phone, gave it a quick look over and then stuffed it back into his pocket.

"I gotta get going," he said. "I forgot I was in the middle of an errand. You're welcome to come with."

I appreciated the invite, but I decided to decline and shook my head, "no." 

"Okay, then," Oota said. 

He turned to leave, but then stopped and turned back around.

"Hey," he said. "I know I'm not all that smart, and very likely not to take my own advice, but if this feud between you and Yuna started from a misunderstanding, then I think that's all the more reason you should talk to her. Not to sound all high and mighty, but whatever happened back then, I don't think it's worth all this fighting. You two could even become friends if you just patch things up. Anyway, that's all I got to say. Later."

And then he left; for real this time.

All alone, I leaned my back against the wall and sank down a little.

"Friends, huh?"

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An Anniversary to Celebrate

 Hey everyone!

It's been a while since I've done an actual blogpost and not just posting a chapter of a story. I know that it's a bit short notice (make that really big short notice), but tomorrow marks one year since I first published Temporal, the final novel of the Ben and Co. Series! It was over seven years ago that I started writing this series. Wow, time sure flies.

Back then, I was only going to publish two books, but felt an urge to keep the story going. Despite some hiccups with one of the books, I can say with confidence that the stories of Benjamin Tao and the people in his life have been the ones I'm most proud to have written.

For those of you looking for an introduction or a recap, the Ben and Co. Series follows the life of Benjamin Tao, a former child genius, talented stage magician and young martial arts master who gained the powers of a dragon by human experimentation. Although reluctant, he gets dragged into one spy thriller adventure after another and ends up becoming something like a hero. Book #5, Extraterrestrial, is where his adventures ended, but it is his daughter's adventures in Temporal, that really wraps the series up.

To celebrate this big moment, I have decided to make Temporal free! Starting on August 22, 2021, the eBook version of Temporal on Amazon Kindle can be purchased for no cost at all, and it'll stay that way until August 26. So mark your calendars and get your free copy while you still have a chance! Don't miss out!

Click on the link below and get your free eBook copy!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GJCG36W

For two years, Beniko, born with special powers, had lived in a cave, distraught over a terrible crime that robbed her of her family and friends. But her self-imposed exile comes to end when a group of strangers appeared to take her away to use her powers for themselves. There is a machine out there that could send someone back in time, and it needs her power in order to work, and there are villains out there willing to do anything to make that happen.

So now the chase is on with the fate of history on the line. It'll take everything Beniko has to stay out of their grasp, including those special powers that got her into trouble in the first place. But in a world where cruel rejection and betrayal could happen at the drop of a hat, will those powers be enough to help her survive?

[Summary from Amazon Page]

CSC Volume 2 Ch. 12

*****

Hisao

*****

"The Warring States Period, a time of strife, a time of . . . war. But of all the warriors to appear, none was more evil, more ruthless than the demon Oda Nobunaga. 

"It all started when he was just a young samurai, wandering through the forest for a bit of leisure. He stumbled upon a mystical red jewel washed up in the riverbank. As soon as he laid eyes on this mysterious jewel, he was entranced. Before he knew what was happening, he was already crouching down to pick it up. And then, in a sudden burst of madness, he dropped the jewel into his mouth and swallowed it. And from within, came an explosion of power.

"The jewel was cursed, filled to the brim with evil power. Evil power that Nobunaga now possessed. He was transformed into a terrible monster that spread darkness and suffering throughout the land. Many warriors rose up to fight against this evil, but none stood a chance against his horrific power. With just one swing of his sword, entire armies were slaughtered.

"But just when all hope seemed lost, one day, a samurai by the name of Mitsuhide encountered a monk who had possession of a mystical blue jewel. The monk gave Mitsuhide the jewel and urged him to take its power in order to finally end the monster Oda Nobunaga's reign of terror. 

"Mitsuhide accepted the jewel, swallowed it and gained his power. And then he went to confront the demon Nobunaga to defeat him once and for all. 

"Their battle took place at Honnoji. It was a fierce duel that made the earth shake and the sky split, and lasted for three days and three nights, until finally Mitsuhide slew the demon and peace was restored to the Land of the Rising Sun."

Mirai put his paper down and looked at us.

"Well, what do you think? he asked. 

Looking at him dumbfounded, Omoyo said, "What. The. Hell. Was. That?"

"What do you mean?" Mirai asked. "It's my history report, of course."

"THAT is supposed to be your history report?"

"Yep," Mirai said. "It's got the Mirai certificate of historical facts!"

"Historical facts, my foot!" Omoyo shouted. "That's all just crap pulled out of a delusional kid's fantasy! The only thing you got right is that Mitsuhide ended Nobunaga at Honnoji. But another thing, we were supposed to be writing about Ancient Egypt! Not about Japan's Warring States Period!"

"Stop wasting your breath, Homura," Isaneko said as she slowly flipped through the pages of a notebook. "You know that he wrote that on purpose. You should worry about yourself more than that idiot. More than a third of your math homework is full of mistakes."

"What!? Really?"

Mirai spun around as Isaneko held up the opened notebook to her face.

"See? There's a mistake over here, and over here."

It's been a few days since the fire at the Shirogami Shrine. While the fire was a pretty scary thing to happen at the shrine, luckily it was quickly taken care of and no one was hurt. Thanks to that, festival prep stayed right on schedule. Today was a break day from that, however, so me and the rest of the club were gathered in the clubroom to tackle our immense amount of homework. Or, at least we were supposed to. 

We all know what Mirai did with his time, but I already finished my quota for the week, so while everyone else were poured over their books, I was on my phone, farming for some items for a limited time game event. 

I looked up from my game for a brief moment and felt a sense of relief wash over me. After that testy exchange a few days ago at the shrine, I was worried that things would get awkward between everyone. So I was really happy to see that things were quite back to normal. At least on the surface. 

While looking over the spoils of my latest quest, I reached for my water bottle but noticed that it was empty as soon as I lifted it off the table.

"Hey," I said. "I'm gonna go get a drink. Anyone want anything?"

"None for me, thanks," Omoyo said.

"I'm good," said Yuna's phone.

"I'll have green tea," Isaneko replied.

While standing in a haughty pose, Mirai spread his hand out to me and commanded, "Bring me nectar from the fruit of Yggdrasil, the World Tree!"

"So just tea for Isaneko. Got it. I'll back in a bit."

With that, I left the clubroom and headed for the vending machine on the first floor. 

As I headed down the hallway, I happened to look out the window overlooking the sports fields. I could see the baseball club members jogging along the perimeter of the school while the soccer club was split for a mock battle. Since the volleyball club had practice in the gym (so I heard), the kendo club were gathered outside doing sword swing exercises. Track and field club members ran around them in a circle trying to beat their own time records.

You'd think to call all that shouting and action the sports kids did down below noisy and hectic. But where I stood, it was actually peaceful and quiet. Weird, I know. But that's what I felt. The air was heavy around me, but it was a sleepy sort of heavy and made me slow down a little. It was like all the scary things I've been through never happened. 

But happened, they did. Since I'm not a mind reader, I have know idea what Yuna thought or felt after nearly being burned to a crisp, but I could never forget. I tried to get it out of my mind with some cute cartoons, but that only served as temporary relief. 

Sometimes, at unexpected moments, my chest would clench and a bad feeling would rise to my throat and spread to the top of my head. That's been happening a lot ever since that day at the river when we found a victim of the Piper. And it happened again as I stared out the window and froze. It took the sharp pop of a metal bat hitting a baseball to wake me up and I quickly hurried down to get the drinks.

As I ran, however, I nearly ran into a guy.

"Whoa! S-sorry!" I said, bowing deeply.

"It's fine, it's fine," said the guy. "Just be careful and watch where you're going from now on."

"S-sure."

I watched his back as he disappeared down the hall before continuing on my way. For some reason, that guy was in a really good mood.

I had just reached the vending machine situated near the back entrance of the building and was about to tap my (parents') credit card over the machine's pay pad when suddenly, an angry shout reached my ears.

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" screamed a girl.

"NOT UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHY YOU'VE BEEN SNEAKING AROUND THE SCHOOL!" screamed a guy.

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"

Normally, I would ignore the screaming and let the teachers handle whatever drama was going on nearby. But this time was different. I couldn't ignore those two voices when I knew who they belonged to. 

So, against my reservations, I abandoned the vending machine and rushed outside where I saw Kyouko and Yamimnura facing off against each other. 

Yamimura was clad in rippling, blurry space, the telltale sign of a psychokinetic user's power. His Psy-Armor explained how he could see Kyouko who should be invisible to most people, but I still didn't get why they were having a shouting match with each other. (I also didn't realize it then, but I must have had my Psy-Armor on, otherwise I would have never heard Kyouko.)

No, scratch that. It was pretty obvious, even to me, why they were arguing.

"If you think I'm going to let you burn down this school and lay the blame on my family, you've got another thing coming!" shouted Yamimnura.

"For the last time, I'm not the arsonist!" Kyouko said. The frustration in her voice hinted that she might be reaching her breaking point.

"Then you'll have no trouble telling what you're doing here with the police!"

Yamimura raised his hand and approached Kyouko. I didn't know what he was planning to do, but I wasn't about to stay back to find out. As soon as he took a step towards Kyouko, I shouted, "Stop!"

Yamimura reeled back in surprise and turned around as I ran towards them. I jumped between him and Kyouko and spread my arms apart, heart beating hard and fast against my chest.

"Oota?" Yamimura shouted angrily. "What do you think you're doing, getting in my way like that?"

"Sorry, Yamimura," I said. "But Kyouko's a friend."

"Wait, what?" Kyouko looked at me with her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion while Yamimura gave me a doubtful gaze.

"A friend? Really?" Yamimura crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't tell me you're in cahoots with the arsonist."

"For the last time, I'm NOT the arsonist!" Kyouko shouted.

"Don't lie," Yamimura snapped back. "I saw you sneaking around at the shrine when that fire happened nearby. And now you're sneaking around over here. If you're really innocent then tell me what you're up to!"

I was at a loss for words. I could just come clean and say that Kyouko was Yuna's stalker (It's the truth!), but I was sure that answer wouldn't sit well with Yamimura. I tried to think of something to say, but I could only draw a blank.

But then, someone close by shouted, "I KNEW IT!"

"Now what?" I groaned as I turned around. I saw Shikouyama coming towards us with his face all red and his teeth bared in a growl. He looked sort of like an angry oni.

"I knew that you were up to no good, Yamimura!" he said.

"What are you talking about?" Yamimura said.

But Shikouyama shouted, "Don't try to play dumb! I caught you red-handed! You and Oota are working together to hurt Naoko! But whatever you got planned, it won't work! I'm going to stop you once and for all!"

I had no idea how Shikouyama could have come to the conclusion that I, of all people, would work together with Yamimnura to hurt Soushu. For one thing, I had no reason to. For another, it's just not in my nature to play assassin.

"No, wait, Shikouyama. I think you're misunderstanding something." I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen.

"Shut up!" he shouted at me. "I won't fall for your tricks!"

What tricks? I wanted to shout at him. I was a terrible liar. There was no way I could even think of tricking someone.

Suddenly, electric sparks appeared and danced around Shikouyama. Many of them gathered at his hands which he balled into fists.

"This ends now!" he shouted. And then he attacked, firing a punch at me that landed on my face. Thanks to my Psy-Armor, though, I was completely unharmed. And I didn't even feel a thing. It was still kind of annoying though.

So I cried out in dismay, "Hey! Are you crazy? Cut it out! You'll get us all in trouble!"

But Shikouyama was beyond listening to reason. He looked like a wild animal with rabies and attacked me like one, foaming at the mouth.

Again and again, he swung his lightning-clad fists. But I ducked, jumped and slid side to side away, causing him to miss each and every time. I had to. Even though my Psy-Armor keeps me from getting hurt, it's not like it's perfect protection. I can never know for sure if it'll fail me or not, especially against other psychic powers, so I try not to depend on it too much. Dodging should always be my first resort, however terrible at it I might be.

"Come on, man!" I shouted. "Quit it!"

Unable to keep my cool, I lashed out and pushed Shikouyama away. I might have pushed a little too hard because he flew and hit the ground about five feet away. I was really afraid I might have hurt him badly, but he stood right back up. As soon as he was done shaking a daze out of his head, he looked up and happened to lay eyes on Yamimura. His face twisted in repulsive anger and he screamed, "YAMIMURA!" before attacking him.

Shikouyama tried to tackle Yamimura to the ground, but Yamimura side-stepped away just in time before going for a tackle himself, clad in Psy-Armor. He sent Shikouyama flying further than I did, and followed up by shooting a missile of psychic energy from a finger gun. But Shikouyama challenged the missile head-on and punched it. He actually punched it! Who actually punches a missile flying to their face?

But Shikouyama wasn't going to stop at just that. As if he suddenly remembered the expression, "an eye for an eye," he gathered electro-magnetic energy at his palm, aimed it at Yamimnura and threw it at him. Yamimura jumped away and the electro-magnetic energy ball exploded against the ground. Shikouyama threw another one, and then another one, but Yamimura dodged them all.

As I watched, I noticed how Yamimura inched closer and closer to Kyouko.

Not good, I thought. If they kept that up, Kyouko was going to get caugh in the crossfire. I had to do something before that could happen, so I ran. I ran to her as Yamimura jumped in front of her. And then I pushed her as Yamimura jumped away.

And then - 

BOOM!

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CSC Volume 2 Ch. 11

*****

Yuna

*****

I could think of a lot of better things to do on a summer vacation day than running around shrine grounds, carrying things from place to place in sweltering heat. Reading in an air-conditioned room. Watching TV in an air-conditioned room. Playing games in an air-conditioned room. BEING in an air-conditioned room. But there I was anyway, under the hot sun, carrying a chair in each hand as I made my way to a big white tent that I heard would be used for making announcements.

After I set the chairs down behind the plastic folding tables, I took a brief look around. But I could not find Homura who had been with me helping set up the broadcast station. There wasn't much left to do here (the grownups were going to handle all the electronics), so she was probably pulled away to help somewhere else.

Suddenly, someone called out to me.

"Oh, hey!" a man called out. He was dressed in a white t-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap. I think he was one of the shrine's paid workers.

I quickly pulled out my phone, searched through a list of pre-set phrases and played, "Hi. How can I help you?"

As expected the man froze, astonished and puzzled. But he quickly recovered and replied, "We're kind of short on chairs. Do you mind going to the storehouse out back to see if there's more? We only need one."

I chose another pre-set phrase, "Sure thing," and then hurried off. I walked around the side of the shrine, following a path of flat stones to the back where a house sat. By the door was a sign that said "Shrine Staff Only". Ignoring the house, I followed the path further back towards a field of grass. 

Sitting at the very edge of the grass field was a storehouse with tree branches hanging over it. Green leaves brushed over the old, tiled roof with each passing wind, but they could not sweep away the dead yellow leaves that lied there.

I stopped for a moment to admire the rustic structure. A long time ago, the walls may have been painted white, but by now most of the paint had flaked off or been stained gray by time. A pair of big, iron doors guarded the things inside it. One had to wonder what this storehouse was used for in its heyday that would require heavy, metal doors that looked straight out of a torture dungeon.

The building was incredibly creepy, but that wasn't the reason why I hesitated to go inside. What made me reluctant was thinking how dark the room inside would be. I'm sure you know this already, but I'm not good with dark places. And that's putting it really lightly. But I assured myself that if I keep the doors open, there'll be enough light to keep me calm.

So, after mustering my courage, I put my hands on one of the doors and pulled. Because the door appeared rusted at certain places, it took all my strength to open it just wide enough for me to slip inside. I tried opening both doors as wide as I could, but I had to make do with leaving them partially ajar.

Before my nerves could slip away from me, I quickly squirmed between the doors and went inside the storehouse. Just as I expected, it was incredibly dark inside. Although it was a bit cooler, that did not help me feel better.

Let's just get this over with before I freak out, I thought to myself,

So I rolled back my sleeves, took a step towards the storehouse's jungle of junk and . . .

Bam!

The doors slammed shut on me.

*****

Kyouko

*****

Because of that dunce with the psychokinetic power, I had to always keep my distance as I followed Yuna. I was never able to do anything except watch her, And the more I watched her enjoy life with that goofy club of hers, the more infuriated I got. It solidified the idea that she really had moved on from me, which was unforgivable. But thanks to some worker who sent her to a storehouse by herself, I finally had a chance.

I followed Yuna as she made her way to the storehouse, being as quiet as I could even though I should be invisible to her thanks to my Perception Manipulation. And then, as soon as she stepped inside, I dove towards the iron doors and slammed them shut with a loud bang.

Ha! That'll teach her, I thought to myself while grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey!" I called out to her. "Cool, I hope! Sure beats the heat, right? Maybe you can stay here until nightfall, when someone finally comes to find you."

I pressed my ear against the crack between the doors, waiting for her to say something. But all I got was a series of squeaking noises.

I frowned.

Weird, I thought to myself. That doesn't sound like the Yuna I know. I had expected her to call out to me, sounding mildly annoyed, saying something like, "Okay, very funny, Kyouko. Now let me out!" But she hadn't made a peep except for that squeaking. Now that I thought about it, in all the time I had followed her, I had not once heard Yuna speak. Why? She used to be such a chatterbox when we went to the same school.

I noticed a small window close to the roof that was sealed shut by a wood board and decided to take a peek inside. It was a bit high, but not too high. And there was a wood beam near it that stretched from the wall to the bottom of the roof.

I squatted down and then jumped up, hooking my fingers over the beam. While hanging on the beam like a monkey, with one hand, I reached towards the wood panel covering the window. Lucky me, the panel was only loosely covering the window, so it was easy for me to pry it open.

While pressing my face against the wall, I peeked inside. But the room inside was incredibly dark, so it was hard to see. I was able to see Yuna, however, thanks to her white shirt making her barely visible in all that darkness. She was on her knees, hunched over and curled up with her back to me.

"What are you doing, Yuna?" I asked. "Trying to mimic a pill bug or something?"

But she didn't say anything and just kept squeaking. And the more I listened to that squeaking, the more it began to sound like screaming.

As I wondered what to do next, a sharp smell made its way up my nose and I nearly let go of the beam. I held on long enough to safely drop back down to the ground, and I turned to see where that smell came from.

Was someone having a barbecue close by? I wondered as I looked past the left corner of the storehouse.

What I saw was not someone firing up a grill, but trees and bushes covered in a blanket of inferno. Blackish smoke stretched to the sky like a giant worm squirming out of the ground. The sight nearly paralyzed me.

I have to get out of here, I thought. But before that, I needed to get Yuna out of that building. 

I grabbed the door handle and pulled, but the door didn't budge. And it still wouldn't move when I pulled it a few more times. Finally, I yanked on the door with all my might, but even that failed to do anything.

"What the hell's wrong with this door?" I shouted. "Why won't it move? All I did was slam the door shut!"

And then I remembered how much trouble Yuna had opening the doors earlier, and how it screeched a lot. With dread, I realized that the doors were so old and neglected that my actions had caused them to be stuck. I had effectively locked Yuna in the storehouse.

"Damn it!" I hammered my fists against the door. "Yuna!" I screamed. "I need help getting this door open! Come over here and push on it! I'll pull!"

But I didn't get any response from Yuna except more squeak-screaming. It was as if she couldn't hear me.

"Damn it!" I swore again and kicked the door in frustration.

I hurried to check how much the fire spread, hoping that I would have enough time to get Yuna free on my own. But my hopes were dashed when I saw the flames reach the trees with their branches hanging over the storehouse. The fire traveled from the trees to their branches and then spread across a trail of dead leaves on top of the storehouse's roof, leaving me absolutely no time at all.

"Damn it, Yuna!" I screamed, pounding on the door. "Hurry up and blast the door open! You're gonna get cooked at this rate! Yuna!"

"Get out of my way!"

Suddenly, I heard someone shout at me from behind and I was shoved aside. I looked up to see one of Yuna's new friends desperately pulling the door with all his might. His sudden appearance shocked me and I was momentarily dumbfounded.

"Mirai!"

"What's going on?"

"Kawatori, quick! Use your hydrokinesis!"

"On it!"

Suddenly, a flood of people appeared. I recognized some of them as Yuna's friends. I think the others go to her school. 

While the girl named Kawatori and another girl made water rain over the flames with her power, another girl joined the boy from earlier helped pull on the door handle. But even their combined strength was not enough to make the door budge. Yuna's cousin stood back, turning his head right and left as if unable to decide what to do.

And then the last member of Yuna's circle of friends appeared and calmly said to the others, "Move."

Suddenly, the boy and girl at the doors flew away. Or to be more accurate, they were flown away by an unseen force controlled by the last girl. She raised her hand and used what looked like telekinesis, the power to move objects with her mind, to rip the doors off their hinges and discarded them to the side like pieces of litter.

With the door no longer in their way, the girl, boy, and Yuna's cousin rushed inside and together, carried Yuna out. We all retreated from the flame-cloaked building just as some grownups arrived.

Everything after that went like a blur to me. The adults were reluctant at first until they learned everyone was a psychic, so they all worked together to get the fire under control with their psychic powers. Eventually, the fire died down, leaving behind leafless trees and a blackened storehouse. And then a man calling himself Mr. Shirogami appeared to thank everyone for their help in stopping the fire from reaching the shrine.

He invited them to rest up in the house, but for some reason, Yuna's friends all declined. In the time it took the fire to go out since she exited the storehouse, Yuna recovered her wits somewhat and assured the others that she was fine. I don't know why, but she used her phone to speak instead of her actual mouth.

I was, of course, invisible to everyone. I had turned on my Perception Manipulation power as soon as the grownups showed up. And while unseen to everyone, I followed Yuna and her gang out of the shrine grounds, down the road where the festival stalls were set up, and to a big white tent being used as a resting area.

When everyone sat down, Yuna's cousin asked her, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Yuna nodded, but no one looked convinced, least of all Yuna herself.

"You were breathing really fast and hard though," her cousin continued. "It was like you were having a panic attack. What happened?"

One of the girls, a tomboy by appearance, cut in and said, "Of course she'd have a panic attack. She was locked in a storehouse with a fire raging outside."

No, I thought. She was in a panic attack long before the fire showed up, so the fire can't be the reason for her panic attack. And since she was an omnikinetic who could blast her way out with any number of powers, being locked inside the storehouse shouldn't have caused her panic attack either.

But then another girl, the telekinetic one, said, "Really? Isn't it because of how dark it was inside?"

"Wha-!?" the tomboy cried out in surprise. She flew off her seat, knocking it back. "Aika, what did you just say?"

The girl named Aika glanced coldly back at the tomboy and replied, "You heard me. I asked if her panic attack stemmed from how dark it was inside."

The boy who was always acting like a clown spoke up, "Aika, wait!" But the telekinetic girl ignored him and continued.

"I mean, doesn't dear Yuna here have a fear of dark places?" she said.

Since when? I wondered. When we were kids, we went through many dark places, but Yuna never appeared to have any trouble being there.

After a moment's pause, Yuna typed into her phone and a voice spoke from it, "How do you know?"

"It wasn't me!" the tomboy cried out. "Yuna, I swear I didn't say anything!"

The others gave her funny looks, but Aika calmly said, "She's telling the truth. dear Homura -" (she gave the tomboy a glance) "- didn't tell me anything. I figured it out on my own. It was easy, really. I noticed how you hesitated to walk into a dark room like the Computer Lab, gym storage room, and so forth. At first, I didn't think much of it, But over time, it became obvious that you have issues with dark places. 

"And that's not all. I also noticed how you haven't once talked about your parents, Yuna."

Yuna abruptly looked up. There was something painful about the way she looked at Aika, but I couldn't help but be curious about what Aika had to say.

"I think the subject did come up a few times, but you never said anything and Oota, here, always acted like it was a taboo thing. He only acts like that over sensitive topics. But why would your parents be a sensitive topic, I wonder. Could it be that your both your mother and father are dead?"

Homura jumped off her chair and took a step, but -

"AIKA!"

For a while, nobody moved, nobody said anything. It was as if time had frozen. But it wasn't, and after seconds ticked by, the boy who shouted, the one who always clowned around, even though he appeared to be the leader of the club, spoke again.

"That's enough," he said.

He and Aika exchanged looks, staring coldly at one another. 

What? I thought. What was she talking about? I wondered, referring to Aika. Both Yuna's mom and dad were dead? Well, I knew about her dad, but I never heard anything about Aunt. She has to be wrong. That lady, dead? There's just no way! But if it's true . . . Could that be it? Could that be why . . . ?

Aika broke eye contact and softly muttered, "I'm sorry, Toshiro."

Toshiro responded, "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"I suppose not," Aika said.

She got off her seat, turned around to face Yuna and then deeply bowed.

"I should not have spoken like that" she said. "It was deeply hurtful, and for that I sincerely apologize."

Yuna assured Aika that she was okay and that she did not need to apologize. But Aika kept bowing until Yuna finally accepted her apology. 

An awkward silence followed after that and lasted until a group of grownups, probably their parents, came to pick them up. After bidding each other farewell, they went home, leaving me behind with questions flooding my brain.

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